1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a watermarking apparatus and method using elemental images of an integrated image having three-dimensional information as a watermark. More specifically, the present invention relates to a watermarking apparatus and method that use an integrated image technology to suggest a technique of using elemental images, which are picked up from three-dimensional information, as a new watermark for data protection, thereby addressing various attacks on the watermark by dispersing embedded information and reconstructing the embedded information with some of the information.
2. Description of the Related Technology
The digital watermarking technology usually refers to a process of embedding and hiding a watermark, which is a kind of ownership information that is not visible to human eyes, in a digital image. The digital watermarking technology provides a method for preventing illegal use and handling of a digital image and authenticating the ownership.
The area in which the object data is changed in the digital watermarking technology has evolved from the conventional spatial area to the more recent frequency area. Recently, a new technology of watermarking frequency data has been introduced.
To watermark data in a frequency area, the discrete cosine transform (DCT), discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and discrete wavelet transform (DWT) are commonly used. The digital watermarking technology requires that the hidden watermark is not visible to human eyes, is robust to a variety of image processing algorithms, and is free from illegal modification or forgery. The conventional watermarking technology, however, used a two-dimensional image, making it vulnerable to a variety of attacks.